well,... if you want to do it special-effects-less, the only thing i can think of is to put in a bunch of cuts...

maybe have a manniquin, and have the cuts go very fast...

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maybe have a manniquin, and have the cuts go very fast...

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Pretty sure they did that for some of the shots in Highlander (the movie). If I remember correctly the first one is seen from behind the actor, so it would be trivial to replace him with a fake head and body and cut it off. In fact, the DVD commentary for that movie was pretty good, so they may have some advice that would be useful.

You could probably do it fairly easily with CG too, like the exploding heads in 'Wild Zero' (shoot an empty background, shoot the actor, matte off the head and replace it with a CG head at the point where it's supposed to be cut off... it will be moving fast enough that few people should notice).

Back in MY day (the long ago 1980's) we would do a shot like that with a fake body, fake head and fake blood all LIVE on set. Never even thought about using greenscreen. And we did some very real looking beheadings.

I imagine someday soon, movie makers won't even have to step outside to get a shot of someone walking across the street and getting into a car.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

Shame I wasn't born 20 years earlier, I think working for someone like Roger Corman in the 70s/80s would have been my dream job :).

Thanks all of you for the insight. I might could get my hands on an old dummy from a clothes store or something. Or I could just make one. But the green screen Idea was pretty good though.

White Tiger Films

Build it yourself. It's great fun and a good skill to have. Wooden dowels, 1X2's, furniture foam and rivited leather strips for joints is all you really need to make a durable dummy.

I have three of them - all called "Bob-the-dead-guy". the original (made 20 years ago) has been run over by a bus, thrown off cliffs and apperaed in over 30 films.

I agree, your gree screen idea is great. Just don't forget that effects actually done on set can be damn good too.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

certified instigator- Wow, You have had a dummy for 20 years? Does it still look good on film? and do you think you could describe how you made it in a little more detail, because I am very intrested in making one to use all the time. Thanks!

White Tiger Films

First is the skeleton: I use 1X2 and various sizes of wood (and sometimes steel) dowels. Steel is heavy but more durable - wood is sturdy, lighter and when it breaks it?s easy to fix.

I build everything except hands and the head. I use leather strips appx. 1.5in X 3.5in for the joints (wrist, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles) that are either screwed or riveted to the ?bones?. If you do this right, the joints will only bend in the correct direction. In some cases I?ll wrap each bone with gaffers tape.

Then I cover the bones with various densities of foam, from harder around the chest to softer for the arms and legs. I use Super 77 adhesive to attach it and an electric carving knife to sculpt the foam to the shape I like. I also lay in my blood tubing at this time - using Y and T joints I make sure I have exit points at the wrists, ankles and neck. I even have exit points at the chest and back to I can do ?bullet? hits.

You can buy hands at many novelty shops.

For the head I build a shoulder area that can be changed out depending in what effect I need. I can put a cut neck for a severed head effect.

With some experimentation you can build a working, realistic dummy for movies and haunted houses.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

certified instigator- Thanks! do you know where I could get foam? I have never worked with it before.

White Tiger Films

here is a guy's way to do similar stuff
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=40984